Seattle Parks has possession of the propeller that was stolen earlier this week from the University District. After discovering the stolen propeller at the Northwest Corporate Park in Kent, a security guard contacted the Kent Police Department.

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Seattle Parks and Recreation is asking for the public’s help in finding a stolen object bound for installation at a north end park.

The University District Community Council and Philip Thiel, naval architect and Professor Emeritus of Architecture and Urban Design and Planning at the University of Washington, were preparing to donate a 70â€ diameter, stainless steel propeller to Parks as an installation in a north end park.

Unfortunately, thieves drove up an alley in the University District this morning and, managing to overcome the obstacles of both a retaining wall and a fence, lifted the 1,260 lb. propeller onto a truck and drive away with it. There were no witnesses. Neighbors heard a commotion and called the police, but the thieves were long gone.

The public is asked to keep an eye out for the missing propeller. If spotted, please call the Seattle Police Department’s non-emergency number (206-684-5011) and contact Seattle Parks and Recreation (206-684-7241).

People are recognizing the joy, satisfaction and security of being able to provide for our own needs, shifting from dependence on giant corporations to a healthy interdependence with our local community. Let’s re-learn the skills our grandparents knew!

Over twenty folks from our neighborhoods have stepped up to share skills such as food preservation, grafting, tool repair, and making clothes.

Skill workshops will be held from 11 AM-5 PM at both the Ravenna-Eckstein and Meadowbrook community centers (with vanpool available). A community potluck at Meadowbrook from 5:30-7:30 PM follows (bring a dish to share and your own utensils).

Every weekend is a good one for rolling out of bed late and cooking up some pancakes* for breakfast. But not every weekend can you cook them up at the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center in an art competition!

Please join us during a wacky pancake art competition benefitting the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Garden! Enjoy a pancake breakfast that includes toppings, bacon, and beverages. Decorate a pancake for the “Wall o’ Art”.

The cost is three dollars per person. Pretty good deal for breakfast in the neighborhood.

Now, should you want to practice your Pancake Art skills before Saturday, we recommend you check out the Jim’s Pancakes website.

Once again (newest Ravenna Blog staff member willing), we will be live blogging a public meeting here — in this case, the community center operations meeting for the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center 6535 Ravenna Ave NE).

The meeting starts at 7 PM. If you cannot make it to the meeting yourself (information on the meeting here), simply load up this post in a web browser around meeting start time. We’ll be sharing with you the highlights in the box below.

And if you ARE following along here at the time of the meeting, feel free to play around with the interface above. There are ways to chat back with us/ask questions when the event is live. And don’t worry — you can’t break it.

Parks and Recreation is holding public meetings to hear from communities about what activities and hours they would like to see at their nearest community center, consistent with the proposal in the Mayorâ€™s proposed 2012 budget that would set up geographical groups of community centers whose staff would work together to provide services to that geographic area of the city.

â€¢ Talk with Parks and Recreation staff and neighbors about your ideas to build community relationships
â€¢ Help Parks and Recreation identify programs and services that are efficient and relevant for those living in the Ravenna-Eckstein community
â€¢ Work together with Parks and Recreation to identify potential operating hours for Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center in 2012
â€¢ Share your voice and personal vision/ideas with others

All community members, stakeholders and partners are encouraged to attend. Child care and light snacks are provided at each site.

It’s that spooky time of year again! Join us for this annual evening of treats and a few tricks. Come in costume and enjoy carnival style games, crafts, a jumpy toy, and more! Meet your neighbors, let your kids loose in the gym and have fun!

The event runs from 6-8PM. After that, you’ll have to find somewhere else to haunt.

Today marks the ten-year anniversary of an event that none of us can ever forget.

For a couple of weeks now, television, radio, the Internet, media of all shades and stripes have been running pieces looking back at that day, what has happened since, and where things are now.

I don’t know about you, but I’m finding it too overwhelming. However, thanks to the Meadowbrook Advisory Council and Seattle Parks and Recreation, for those of us who may want to commemorate this day in a more quiet and personal way, we have another option.

“A Day of Remembrance and Service to Others” is happening today, Sunday, September 11, 2011, at Meadowbrook Pond (NE 107th St and 35th Ave NE).

From the press release:

The public is invited to Meadowbrook Pond any time on Sunday, from dawn to dusk, to walk the paths, find a place for quiet contemplation or meet neighbors. There will be several interactive displays and thoughtful prompts to help people reflect and also look to the future. It has been said that the best way to remember those who died on 911 is to â€œLive, love and laugh in their honor.â€

Meadowbrook Pond offers a beautiful setting that will allow people to remember the tragedy and how we can live our lives in the best way possible from here on.

Another way to honor people is to use this day as a day to do something for others–something for the community or the environment on this day that is also known as Patriot Day.

Fourteen units headed to 55th and Ravenna Ave NE for a “Rescue Rope” call? What is that?

Google Maps shows the address as Ravenna Park.

I hop onto Twitter to ask if anyone is in the park and knows what’s going on, and a few moments later, the following message and picture arrive via email (from Ravenna resident Thom):

On our way dinner at Piatti we walked by this young man dangling from the [20th] Ave bridge. His t-shirt became entangled in his gear and he got stuck about 1/2 way down. He didn’t have a knife to cut himself free (and neither did we.) My son James snapped this pic with his Windows Phone 7.

Picture courtesy Thom George (and son James)

Well, that explained both the “rescue” and the “rope,” didn’t it?

I heard back this morning from Seattle Fire Department Public Information Officer, Kyle Moore, about how the rest of the call went:

Hey, we got called off of this before we arrived. The call came in at 6:54 as a person stuck under the 20th Avenue bridge at Ravenna Park. The call came in as a person under the bridge suspended on a rope with their shirt caught on rope. The caller said the person was trapped 20 feet from the ground. Seattle Police responded for traffic. The person got himself down before our units arrive.

So the rappeller is down, safe and sound, and hopefully rethinking his hobby (or the practice location, at least).

As for the legality of this activity, I think we can all agree that rappelling off a bridge anywhere in Seattle is a big no-no. I have contacted both the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department (update below) as well as the Seattle Police Department in regards to penalties for this type of activity, and will update this post if/when I receive more information.

UPDATES (Wednesday, September 7): Longtime Ravenna resident Bill wrote in to say:

That bridge has been a popular rappelling site for the 40+ years I’ve lived in Ravenna. On one occasion, about the mid 1970s, I watched from below the bridge, four or so guys taking turns dropping down, sometimes head first instead of feet first, showing off for the audience I guess. And probably their nerves were soothed from pot smoking, another favorite under-the-bridge activity back then. Hey, the risk takers are alive and well.

Seattle Parks and Recreation Communications Manager, Dewey Potter, had the following to say about this type of activity in (over?) city parks (via email):

Parks and Recreation, like other recreation agencies in Washington state, is protected by a “recreation immunity” statute that protects from liability public agencies that provide recreational space for the public and don’t charge a fee: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=4.24.200. While Parks and Recreation tries to accommodate and find spaces for new forms of recreation (recent examples are off-leash areas, skateparks, bike polo, dodgeball, and slacklining), we haven’t talked about rappelling thus far.